Tuesday, 21 September 2010

I was idly pondering my sprawling mass of Imperial Guard in the shower this morning, and I came to a startling conclusion: I could - if I wanted to - field ALL of my main units* in just two legal FOC army lists!

Behold:

Please note that (A) this requires my Armoured Fist platoon to act as chimera-vets: something I'm toying with to allow others to spar against mech-Guard at the club; and (B) the second (blue) detachment comprises almost wholly original or converted 'classic' models. The hydra is an exception*.

...and here's the painting chart as it stands at the mo:

Cheers,

- Drax.

*NB: I own everything on there, now, apart from the manticore, which I'm thinking of getting next...although "next" won't be for a while yet. Obviously that won't be a 'classic' model unless I convert it...

Wednesday, 15 September 2010

Just thought I'd share my disappointment at the understandable lack of vox-sets in Guard armies these days...including my own.

I'm happy to admit that in the last incarnation of the Codex, the vox-caster was over-powered. Being able to use the commander's Ld from across the board - whilst a nice nod to battlefield communications - made Guardsmen too steady in the face of casualties.

BUT...in the current Codex they are seriously, seriously rubbish. I get the 'Orders' process, and (whilst it's a little fussy at the start of the shooting phase with a lot of infantry) it's fun and works at the right 'level'. I get that the range is 6" or 12" and I'm happy for that to represent an abstraction of the effective range of officers' shouts/charisma/authority. But what on Earth do voxes do these days?

They offer you a re-roll on an orders check.

So...if the squad's within 6" of the issuing officer, and they don't quite catch his yells of "Shoot the buggers! Fire by ranks! Kill them! Kill them all!" then they can call him up on the vox net and clarify just what it is they so urgently need to do. But only if they're already within shouting distance.

Bloody ridiculous.

And it costs 5pts per squad.

What's more is that - for the most part - the troops you often really want to issue the juicy orders to aren't allowed vox sets (heavy and special weapon squads; maybe snipers). The only notable exception is veterans, who have the potential to really benefit from almost every order.

I'm fairly sure I'm not alone in enjoying many of the various Guard vox miniatures, and I'm still using mine, but even though I like to try and make my forces fairly fluffy, I'm still not wasting points on vox-sets.

If I had the ability to re-write the rules, I'd do it very simply: orders have a 6"/12" range unless both units have a vox, in which case there's no range limit. Y'know, like what they designed radios for.*

Any other thoughts on the matter?

- Drax.

*It's worth pointing out that British Army radios traditionally seem to have a real-life working range of only about 12". On a 1:1 scale. But only whilst the batteries work.

in each game - very unusually for me - I used combined squads (2 squads in one game; all 3 in the others!). I think I did this (a) for speed and convenience; (b) for survivability; (c) to intimidate, and (d) to maximise firepower (FRFSRF Vs Blood Angels = carnage)

the autocannon were necessary, but pretty rubbish throughout

the list was (predictably) rubbish against mechanised Imperial Guard - no surprises there; I need more anti-tank.

grenade launchers kill marines (I love grenade launchers)

a hedge of bayonets kills chaplains:

(although he weathered seven wounding hits with only one wound remaining!)

Space Marine scouts are BS3 (grrrr!)

cheap special weapons squads make excellent screening troops

mortars (which I also love) really can make a difference: even one in a small game!

Saturday, 4 September 2010

I had a great time at my first Games Club tournament (400pt Combat Patrol) last week: I took an infantry platoon, placed third and enjoyed myself thoroughly!

In this post, I'll include photos of the superb missions and a couple of the tables (each roughly 3'x4') as well as a couple of photos and notes from the games. Huge credit goes to a nice chap called Andy who not only penned the missions, but who also organised the tourney and was a cracking opponent for my first game.NB: Sorry for the picture quality, but the club's in the extensive cellars of a pub, and the lighting's hard to counter.

I didn't play either of these two missions, but trust me, the city terrain looked far better in the flesh. Click on images to expand:

This one I did play, although my opponent was a little sketchy on some core rules...:

Rightly enough, I went nowhere near this little Khornate number:

...But this one (Ash Waste) was superb. Sadly I didn't get a close-up of the mission, but essentially it was Pitched Battle/Annihilation with four poisonous clouds which blew around (2d6 scatter) at the start of each player-turn, dealing out str4 hits to each model touched. I played a very dangerous game here, deploying a mass of infantry a few inches away...but the Emperor was smiling on me: I only lost 3 or 4 guardsmen (more on this later):

This was my last game of the evening; against mech guard, and the eventual winner. Not the most fun game, but at least I took it to a draw (not bad considering how easy a no-frills platoon commander is to kill:

Sadly I didn't get to play this one - it looks awesome(!):

'Tunnels' was my first game (against Andy) and it was absolutley superb! Tremendous in its simplicity - the nightfighting rules and the lack of sightlines meant that our two opposing infantry platoons ended up squabbling with bayonets on the central objective- Great fun!

Here's a post-game pic of Andy's Zombie Guard - great!

Sadly for the Blood Angels Chaplain-led jump-pack squad I was up against in 'Ash Wastes', the Emperor was not shining on them. I demolished them, but Jay (their general) was a proper good sport, and I really enjoyed the game. Here's the Chaplain getting [oh-so-slowly] bayonetted to death:

(Some of the Guardsmen are even facing the right way!)

I'll post the force I took in a new post soon...but I'm back at work now, so blogging will - predictably enough - slow down a bit again.

About Me

Like so many, I've now forsaken GW and fallen utterly in love with Bolt Action, as well as occasional 15mm forays.
Oh, and using X-Wing to tell cool stories about a Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...